The present invention generally relates to a queue management system for managing at least one queue of people.
In many leisure pursuits (such as theme parks and museums) and other activities (such as arranging visas and immigration procedures), a large amount of time can be spent waiting in queues. The queuing is a frustrating and unproductive use of the time of the person in the queue and can be economically inefficient for the enterprise concerned. However, significant queues are necessary for at least part of the time in order to make efficient use of the particular resources.
The problem of managing queues has been addressed in the prior art such as in EP0086199. In the system disclosed in EP0086199 a queue sequence for serving customers at a number of service points is determined once a customer has been allocated a turn number. The customer can then be told which queue to attend by observing a display.
This prior art arrangement is particularly suitable for queues such as in supermarkets wherein the queue time is generally not that long and the person will therefore accept the necessity for waiting near the queuing area and viewing the display. However, for multiple queues at remote locations or for one or more queues which have a considerable delay associated therewith, the system does not enable the person queuing to physically leave the queue without there being a possibility of the person losing their place in the queue.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a queue management system which allows people to join a xe2x80x9cvirtualxe2x80x9d queue, thus freeing the person from having to wait near the queue.
The present invention provides a queue management system for managing at least one queue of people, the system comprising a plurality of portable modules, each portable module being arranged to be carried by a person or a group of people and including memory means for containing a unique identification code, indicator means for indicating to said person or group of people when it is time to join the or each queue, signal receiver means for receiving signals to cause said indicator means to be operate, transmitter means for transmitting said identification code over a short range to confine the transmitted identification code to a local region around said person or group of people, and docking means for downloading said identification code when said portable module is docked; at least one docking station, the or each docking station being adapted to co-operate with said docking means of a said portable module for registering said person or group or people in queue sequence for a respective queue by downloading said identification code from said portable module when docked; a queue manager for maintaining the queue sequence for the or each queue and including first communication means for receiving the or each downloaded code, and a transmitter for transmitting said signals to each portable module to instruct said person or group of people carrying a said portable module to join a queue; at least one module detector for detecting any portable modules in the vicinity of the or each module detector by detecting any transmitted identification codes, a said module detector being arranged at the location of the or each queue to detect when the person or group of people carrying said portable module joins the queue; and second communication means arranged between said queue manager and the or each module detector to communicate any detected identification codes to said queue manager; said queue manager being adapted to updated the or each queue sequence using the or each detected identification code and the or each downloaded identification code to remove the or each detected identification code from the front of the respective queue sequence and to add the or each downloaded identification code to the back of the respective queue sequence.
The present invention can thus provide a queue management system which allows people who wish to queue to be free to undertake other activities. The time involved in physically queuing can be drastically reduced to perhaps a few minutes. The system maintains the place of users in each queue and informs them when they should physically join the queue.
The present invention can be employed in theme parks as a queue management system for all of the guests, or for a proportion of the guests who are willing to pay a premium, or one of a range of premiums corresponding to a range of privileges.
Conveniently, the method of communicating between the portable modules and the queue manager is by way of radio paging messages which can be received and displayed by the portable modules.
Although conveniently the indication by the indicator means can be passed to the user visually, e.g. by a display, the indications could be audible, e.g. a spoken message or a tone.
The present invention also can provide information on the whereabouts of the users of the system which can, in some applications, provide very useful management information, and can give the ability to influence users"" movements, that can lead to economic advantages. In order to facilitate this, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention the system includes at least one additional module detector provided at locations away from the or each queue for detecting any portable modules in the vicinity of the or each additional module detector by detecting any transmitted identification codes, the or each additional module detector being connected to the queue manager by the second communication means and the queue manager being adapted to use any detected identification codes to track the locations of each person or groups of people carrying a portable module.
Advantageously, the system may further comprise at least one automatic registration gate connected to said queue manager by said second communication means, the or each said automatic registration gate corresponding to a respective queue and including a module detector arranged to detect only portable modules passing through the automatic registration gate by detecting any transmitted identification codes, and said queue manager adapted to update the respective queue sequence using the identification codes detected by the automatic registration gate to add the detected identification codes to the back o; the respective queue sequence.
Preferably, at least one of said module detectors arranged at the location of the or each queue is incorporated in a gate unit, and is further arranged to detect only the transmitted identification codes of portable modules passing through the gate unit.
In an alternative embodiment, in order for the system to be able to distinguish whether a user is merely in the vicinity of a queue or has actually joined a queue, at least one of the module detectors S arranged at the location of the or each queue may include a pair of detecting antennae arranged as a gate through which a person or group of people carrying a portable module will pass to join a queue. In this arrangement either the queue manager or the or each module detector includes correlation means to correlate signals for any detected identification codes from the pair of detecting antennae to determine whether a portable module has passed therethrough and if so to pass the detected identification code to the second communication means.
In this way the module detectors can identify whether the user is merely in the vicinity or has actually joined the queue. if the user is merely i the vicinity, the second communication means passes the detected identification codes flagged as representing portable modules being only in the vicinity of the module detector. Alternatively, the identification codes detected by the pair of detecting antennae are passed by the second communication means to the queue manager where the correlation is carried out to determine whether a user has passed through or merely by the pair of antennae.
Advantageously, the signal transmitting means may comprise at least one transmitter.
Advantageously, the signal transmitting means may comprise one or more signal transmitters, the or each signal transmitter being provided in a respective one of said module detectors.
Preferably, the signal transmitter is a short range radio transmitter.
In one embodiment the transmitter means of each portable module is adapted to periodically transmit the identification code stored in its memory means.
In an alternative embodiment the or each module detector includes a prompting transmitter for transmitting a prompting signal over a short range to cause any portable modules in range to respond by transmitting their identification codes, each portable module including prompt receiving means for receiving he prompting signal and the transmitter means of each portable module being responsive to the received prompting signal to transmit the identification code stored in its memory means.
Thus, when a portable module comes within range of a module detector, its transmitted identification code will be received by the module detector and passed on to the queue manager. In order to avoid conflicts between transmissions from more than one portable module at the same frequency at the same time, interference can be avoided by delaying the transmission of the identification code for a random or pseudo-random delay period. Alternatively, some of the portable modules can transmit the identification codes at different frequencies or each portable module transmitting at the same frequency could transmit the identification code after a unique delay period.
In one embodiment the or each module detector transmits a unique prompting signal and the portable modules include identification means to compare the unique prompting signal with a stored prompting signal corresponding to a respective queue to determine whether the person or group of people are at the correct queue, and means to indicate to the person or group of people whether or not the person or group of people are located in the correct queue.
In a further embodiment, the prompting transmitter transmits an identifying prompting signal indicative of the range of said identifying prompting signal, and said portable module is operable in response to said identifying prompting signal to set the range of its identification code transmission-.
When the system is designed for use in a defined area, e.g. theme park which has exits, the system preferably includes at least one module detector at each exit to detect portable modules to prevent the portable modules being removed from the defined area. This prevents the loss of the portable modules by deliberate or accidental removal from the defined area.
Preferably the or each docking station includes queue display means for displaying a selection of queues which the person or group of people may wish to join, input means to allow the person or group of people to select which queue they wish to join and downloading means for downloading the identification code of the docked portable module, for passing the downloaded identification code to the queue manager via the first communication means, and for passing the identity of the or each queue which the person or group of people wish to join to the queue manager via he first communication means. The queue manager is adapted to register the person or group of people in at least one queue sequence dependent upon the downloaded identification code and the received queue identity.
In an alternative embodiment, a person can remotely register for a plurality of queues using a remote input arrangement, e.g. a display and keys. Such an arrangement could for instance be provided at the user""s hotel. When a user registers in this way a portable module identification code (or the portable module itself) is assigned to that user. The user can then either pick up the assigned module later or by for example using a password, select a portable module S and have the assigned identification code uploaded to the portable module when the portable is docked. For this facility a means of identifying such a user is required. This can take the form of a password for example which can be given to an attendant to receive the assigned portable module or it can be input to the docking station when a portable module is docked to cause the queue manager to upload the assigned identification code.
In order for the queue manager to receive data on is the person or group of people who are using the portable module, the display means and the input means of the or each docking station are preferably adapted to respectively display requests for data on the person or group of people and to allow the input of such data for transmission to the queue manager via the first communication means.
The docking station conveniently allows the person or group of people to select a preferred sequence of queues to be joined and preferred times of joining the queues and allows the reselection of the preferred sequence and the preferred times at a later time.
For multiple queues, the queue manager optimises the position of a person or group of people in each of the queue sequences to allow the person or group of people to join each queue and attend each event being queued for. In order to do this, the queue manager preferably includes queue information storage means to store information on the predicted rate at which the or each queue will move and the actual rate of queue movement and the queue manager is adapted to use the store information to optimise the length of the or each queue sequence and to enable the optimisation of the sequence of queues. Once the queue manager has determined the optimum queue sequence, it transmits data on the queue sequence and times at which the queue should be joined to the portable modules and this data is stored in the memory means of each portable module for display.
In order to avoid the necessity for transmitting a large number of messages to each portable module, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention each portable module includes a message memory for storing a plurality of standard messages. The queue manager is adapted to send a desired message activation signal to the selected portable modules whereupon the selected portable modules display a desired message from the stored plurality of messages on th display in response to the activation signal.
In one embodiment the queue manager is able to send a control signal to selected said portable modules whereupon the selected portable modules respond by switching the mode of operation to revert to a normal pager messaging mode.
In one embodiment, when a user registers for a queue sequence, the time of registration is logged by the queue manager. The queue manager is able to transmit messages to each of the portable modules which have been registered within a certain time window. This feature is useful where managers of a theme park wish to allow its users only a limited number of hours of access to the park or to certain activities. A message can be sent to the users which registered within a time window. This allows a transmission of a xe2x80x9ctime-outxe2x80x9d message transmitted to the users which are registered within a time window to indicate that they no longer have access to the park or to certain activities and should leave.
In the present invention when a portable module indicates that the user should join a queue, there is no guarantee that the user will respond by joining the correct queue at the correct time. Therefore, in order to ensure that the multiple queue sequencing runs smoothly, the present invention preferably includes an access control mechanism associated with the or each module detector to allow access to a queue area for a queue and the queue manager is adapted to compare an detected identification code with the identification codes of the queue sequence associated with the queue to determine if the detected identification code falls within a predetermined range of the front of the queue sequence, and to transmit an access denied signal over the second communication means to the access control mechanism if the detected identification code is determined to be outside the predetermined range. The access control mechanism is then responsive to the access denied signal to prevent a person or a group of people carrying the portable module associated with the detected identification code from gaining access to the queue area. Preferably the queue manager is adapted to transmit an explanatory message to the portable module which has been denied access to the queue area to explain the reason why access has been denied.
Alternatively, each portable module is adapted to stare a default acceptance time window associated with each queue for which the identification code of the portable module has been entered in the queue sequence reason messages, a portable module which has been denied access being adapted to identify the module detector to determine whether the portable module is at the correct queue area at the correct time, and to select and display an appropriate reason message to explain why access has been denied.
In one embodiment a plurality of portable modules can be assigned as a group and each member of a group of portable modules has an identification code which identifies which group the portable modules belong to. The or each docking station is adapted to allow the selection of the option for the members of a group of people to allow them to each have a portable module. For members of a group, when one member places the portable module in the docking station, it is possible for that member to input a group specific message which is sent by the queue manager to all members of the group. It is also possible for the group member to request information on the locations of the group members. The queue manager is able to provide such information which is then displayed at the docking station to allow the group member to locate other members of the group.
Since the queue manager is able to monitor the location of the portable modules, it is possible for the queue manager to send area specific messages to portable modules which are known to be in a specific area. Such messages can for instance be prompting advertisements for local attractions or information on local facilities.
When the portable module is docked in the docking station, it is possible for a user to select the language of the messages to be displayed by the portable unit. Also, the queue manager is able to set the messages which are stored in the message memory and the frequency of operation of the transmitter means within the portable module. Further, the queue manager can download the default acceptance time window, e.g. +5 mins, xe2x88x9210 mins.
In one preferred embodiment the present invention can also provide a plurality of portable tagging modules, each portable tagging module being arranged to be carried by a person or a group of people to be tracked. Each portable module comprises memory means for containing the unique identification code, transmitter means for transmitting the identification code over a short range to confine the transmitted identification code to a local region around the person or group of people carrying the portable tagging module, and docking means for docking with the or each docking station for downloading the S identification code to the queue manager. The or each docking station is adapted to allow a person or group of people carrying a portable module to associate at least one portable tagging module with the portable module. A docking station can prompt the selection of a tagging option when the portable module is docked to download the identification code thereof and to subsequently request the docking of a portable tagging module to download the identification code thereof. The queue manager is then responsive to the downloaded identification codes to associate the identification codes. The or each docking station is further able to transmit a location request signal for associated identification code of a portable module or tagging module when a portable module or portable tagging module is docked. The queue manager responds to the location request signal to transmit Information on the location of the associated portable module or portable tagging module to the docking station for display thereby.
Where there are fees associated with one or more queues, in accordance with one embodiment the or each docking station includes payment means for receiving payment in respect of a queue which has a fee associated therewith. The payment means is adapted to request payment and await receipt of payment before registering a person or group of people in a queue sequence for a desired queue which has a fee associated therewith.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention each docking station includes payment means for receiving payment to be credited to the person or group of people carrying a portable module and the payment is associated with the identification code of the portable module. The queue manager includes credit storing means for receiving and storing information on the payment to be credited to a portable module from the docking station, queue cost information memory means containing information on the cost of the or each queue which has a fee associated therewith, and debiting means for debiting funds from the credit stored in the credit storing means when the queue manager receives a downloaded identification code from the module detector at a queue which has a fee associated therewith. The queue manager is adapted to transmit information on stored credit the credit storing means through a portable module to that portable module for display to allow the user to determine how much credit he has left.
In the above alternative embodiments the payment means can conveniently comprise a credit card reader.
It can thus be seen from the above that the system can conveniently comprise a combined short range pager unit and electronic tag, gate units and a base station including a controlling computer.
In the present invention the queue sequence comprises a xe2x80x9cvirtualxe2x80x9d queue which conveniently resides in a computer system""s memory and holds a user""s place in the queue in the same order as if he had remained physically present.